Tales of Intrigue in Arendelle
by Mister Cuddlesworth
Summary: It's been less than two months since the events of Frozen, and yet there have already been three attempts on Elsa'a life, with the most recent coming far too close to success for comfort.
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

**Authors Note: This is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction, so it may or may not be quite up to par, but the style itself is heavily influenced by David Eddings, so it can't be all that bad. Also, although officially it's only a crossover between Frozen and Skyrim, I also plan to add elements from Assassin's Creed, Tangled, and Brave if I can manage it. I'll try to update this at least every few days, but I won't give any promises of me not losing interest and/or inspiration. Anyway, enough of my rambling, sit back, relax, and try to enjoy a good story.**

Chapter One - Prologue

It was about 1:30 in the morning, and almost everyone in the palace of Arendelle was either asleep, or too drunk to notice a man in dark clothes sneaking through the halls. The man turned a corner, and suddenly slipped into the shadows, almost completely invisible in the poor lighting. He could tell that he had reached his destination by the pair of spear-bearing guards flanking a door on the hall he had entered. The man, named Gunter, quickly took a coin out of his pocket and threw it to the far end of the hall, making a slight clinking noise. Both guards immediately turned their heads towards the sound, and warily advanced towards it.

Seizing the few seconds caused by his distraction, Gunter silently slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. He was a professional, after all, and had no desire to tarnish his reputation for performance or his prospects for survival and payment. He listened at the door for a moment to make certain that no alarm had been raised, turned his gaze to the large, comfortable looking bed in the room he had entered, and approached on silent feet. Looking down on the sleeping figure of the Snow Queen of Arendelle, he briefly wondered why his employer wanted her dead. He shrugged, and took out a small knife. He was an assassin, after all, not a philosopher, and was being paid quite well for this job. Just then, the door opened, and a young woman with strawberry-blonde hair entered the room.

"Elsa, I know it's late and all, but - ELSA!" she shrieked upon seeing the assassin about to kill her sister. The Queen's eyes snapped open immediately.

Time seemed to slow as adrenalin flooded Gunter's bloodstream. He had two options now - kill the Queen and almost certainly die, or run and have a chance of surviving to rebuild his reputation. All this flashed through his mind in an instant, and he made a decision.

He bolted for the window.

For a moment, it seemed as though he might make it, but that moment ended when a thick wall of ice suddenly appeared between him and his only hope of escape. Looking desperately around the room for a means to flee and finding none, the assassin, in accordance with the laws of his band of murderers, turned his knife upon himself and sank into the merciful darkness, then knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2 - Aftermath

Chapter Two - Aftermath

Everyone in the room stared in shock and horror at the bleeding corpse on the floor of the royal bedchamber. This was not the first attempt on the Queen's life, but it was certainly the closest. The first attempt had been a month and a half ago, just a few days after the disaster commonly referred to as the coronation party, and had only been stopped by the fact that Elsa had awoken to use the chamber pot just a few moments before the assassin had entered her bedchamber. The second assassin, who had come just over three weeks ago, had tripped over a loose curtain and escaped. This most recent one seemed far more competent than his predecessors, but nobody had expected him to deny them information the way he had.

After a long moment, one of the guards who had rushed in with Anna's scream slowly approached the former assassin and began sifting through the various bags and pockets in his clothes, explaining that he was looking for a letter, or something else to trace back to the man's employer. Finally, Elsa, sitting on her now thoroughly frosted bed, broke the tense silence.

"How is it that this man was able to enter my bedchamber when there were two guards standing at my door?" she asked in a quavering voice that was filled with a combination of fear and anger.

"We heard a sound at the end of the hall, Your Majesty, and left to investigate it. He probably slipped in behind us, ma'am." the shamefaced guard who was not rifling through the assassin's clothes admitted.

"What do we do now?" asked Anna, who was desperately clinging to her sister as though another murderer would appear at any moment.

"The same thing we did last time." Elsa replied. "We stay vigilant and go about our business. Have you found anything yet, corporal?" This last question was directed to the guard still searching the assassin's body.

"I found a letter, Your Majesty, but I doubt it will be of any use." he said, standing up. "All it says is 'Gunter, you are to enter the palace, kill the Queen, and leave undetected. We are being paid very well for this, and you will receive your usual percentage.' No signature, ma'am."

"So, we know his name was Gunter, and that he was working for someone else, but that's about it. Where does that leave us?"

"Stumbling around without a clue, to be perfectly honest. We need to capture one of them alive if we want to learn something new."

"Thank you, corporal. Would you please dispose of the - eugh, him - and have someone set up a cot for me in Anna's chambers?"

"At once, ma'am. I'll escort you to the princess's chamber immediately. You there, private! Fetch a cot for Her Majesty and bring it to Princess Anna's chamber, then accompany me back here."

"Yes, sir!" the young guard stammered, then ran to the barracks to fetch a cot.

**xxx**

Nothing of any particular interest happened over the course of the next week (save for a fifth letter from the Duke of Weasleton begging for a reinstatement of trade), and life slowly returned to normal, or at least as normal as it can be living under the same roof as a powerful ice mage whose power still escaped her control sometimes. That semblance of normality was shattered, however, when a somewhat winded footman burst into the frigid throne room in the middle of a rather intense debate between Elsa and the ambassador from Weasleton.

"What is it?" the Queen snapped, somewhat more sharply than she had intended.

"A ship has docked in the harbor, Your Majesty, flying the colors of Skyrim and the personal banners of High King Ulfric Stormcloak. He has requested an audience with you."

"I see. Shall we continue this conversation later, when we've both had a chance to calm down and think, Ambassador?" she asked the Weasletonian.

"That would likely be the course of wisdom, Your Majesty." he replied.

"Good." she turned back to the soldier, who had caught his breath by now. "Please tell my sister that her presence is requested here, and the Ice Master, if he is around."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" he said. Banging a quick salute on his chestplate, he turned and went searching for the Princess Anna.

**xxx**

When Anna arrived in the now somewhat warmer throne room, Elsa immediately asked her to take her customary place at her right side. Having been informed that Kristoff had returned to the mountain lakes to oversee the autumn preparations for winters ice harvesting, she turned to one of her attendants.

"Please tell His Majesty that we are ready to receive him now." she said. The attendant said something and left, but Elsa wasn't really paying attention, and just waited nervously for the King of Skyrim to enter. She admitted to herself that she still wasn't really comfortable around people, even after learning how to control her powers. 13 years of near total isolation does tend to do that to people. Her thoughts were interrupted then, however, by the large doors swinging open and two very large men, followed by two rows of six similarly sized soldiers, entered the room.

"Presenting His Majesty, Ulfric Stormcloak, High King of Skyrim!" the court herald announced.


	3. Chapter 3 - Princessly Duties

Chapter Three - Princessly Duties

Princess Anna of Arendelle was in a good mood today. Sure, while someone had tried to kill her sister just a week ago, that had meant that they had slept in the same bedchamber for the first time since she was five, even if it was only for one night, and only because of the blood on the rugs, and the-

"No!" Anna said to herself. "I'm not going to let myself think about that! Maybe I could go to the market and buy a new dress. Ooh, or maybe I could get Elsa and me some chocolate from the kitchens! Oh, wait, no, she's busy being Queen. I wish Kristoff was here, he'd be able to think of something to do." Just then, a guard approached her, interrupting that rather depressing train of thought.

"Your Highness, your presence is requested in the throne room." the guard told her after a quick bow.

"Really?" she asked the guard. "I wonder why Elsa wants me there. Do you know? Is someone in trouble?" She suddenly gasped, and a look of worry showed on her face. "Was Kristoff hurt?" she asked quickly.

"I don't believe there's anything to be concerned about, Your Highness. Your sister probably just wants your company."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Let's go there now."

"Yes, Your Highness, though the Queen has also requested Kristoff's presence. Would you happen to know where he is?"

"I think he said something about going to oversee preparations for the ice harvest, or something."

"Thank you, your Highness."

When Anna entered the throne room of Arendelle, she was immediately instructed to stand to the right of her sister, a place she only stood when they were being visited by foreign dignitaries, or for official palace events. As soon as she was in place, Elsa turned to an attendant and said "Please tell His Majesty that we are ready to receive him now."

_So that's what this is about, we're meeting a King!_ Anna thought to herself._ I wonder which kingdom he's from, and what he looks like, and what kind of person he is! Maybe he and Elsa will fall in love the way Kristoff and I have!_

Her thoughts were cut short just then by the opening of the large doors at the front of the hall, and she immediately adopted her most regal pose, only for it to almost instantly be replaced by a look of awe as the biggest men she'd ever seen, other than Oaken, entered the room.

"Presenting His Majesty, Ulfric Stormcloak, High King of Skyrim!" the herald announced.


	4. Chapter 4 - New Acquaintances

**Author's Note: The Dragonborn is introduced in this chapter, going by the name of Hjadvaar. This particular iteration has completed the Dawnguard questline on the side of Castle Volikhaar, but the characters don't really need to know that yet, now do they?**

Chapter Four - New Acquaintances

"Arendelle extends our welcome to the King of Skyrim" Elsa said to the men in front of the throne.

"Skyrim graciously accepts the welcome of Arendelle, and thanks Your Majesty for your hospitality." a man Elsa could only presume to be Ulfric said. "We have received word of the attempt on Your Majesty's life last week, and hoped to strengthen our diplomatic ties by offering you one of our greatest warriors as your personal bodyguard. Volunteers were taken, and the first to put his name forward was our finest fighting man, Hjadvaar. We immediately boarded my personal vessel and sailed here to give you this most generous offer."

Elsa was stunned. It was not the fact that news of her close call with death had spread so quickly that surprised her, she had expected as much. Rather, it was the possibly unprecedented act of offering Skyrim's greatest warrior to be the bodyguard of the Queen of a small, obscure nation of which almost nothing was known in Skyrim that was so shocking. Realising the King of Skyrim was waiting for her, she quickly got to her feet.

"Please, these 'Majesty's are quite tiresome, call me Elsa. Regarding your offer, I accept with much gratitude, and have high hopes for a long and prosperous relationship between our two nations."

Upon hearing these words, the second of the men who had led the way into the throne room stepped forward. He had a barely tamed head of blonde hair that extended beyond his shoulders and a thick, intricately braided beard that stopped only when it reached halfway down his muscular-looking chest, and Elsa suddenly noticed with just a touch of nervousness that he carried a sword and shield on his back, in addition to the various other weapons shoved into a series of belts draped over his shoulders, and an unpleasantly horned helmet tucked into the crook of his arm.

"Hail Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle!" he said in a powerful, rumbling voice. "My life and sword are yours to command, and it is an honor for me to use both to defend your life and honor." Concluding this, he sank to one knee and bowed his head.

Elsa had not been prepared for a speech of that sort, and the nervousness she had felt earlier increased sharply, accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature, and although the foreigners didn't seem to mind despite not really having sleeves, Anna started to shiver slightly. Taking a series of deep breaths, Elsa managed to calm herself enough to return the room to a more habitable temperature.

"Rise, Hjadvaar, and take your place at my left." she addressed the man still kneeling before her, with only the slightest trace of nerves in her voice. Somewhat to her surprise, he stood up and moved to a position to her left and somewhat behind her. Looking to see how Anna was taking all of this, she saw a mixture of awe and terror on her sister's face.

"We will linger here for a short time," she realised Ulfric was saying. "But I doubt we will be here by this time next week. The Aldmeri Dominion has been threatening our borders, so we cannot stay long."

"You will be made welcome here for however long you require, Ulfric. The gates to Arendelle shall always be open." she replied.

**EDIT 5/18/14: Fixed physical description of Hjadvaar I thought had been updated a few days ago. Sorry about that.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Old Friends

Chapter Five - Old Friends

True to his word, Ulfric lingered in Arendelle for four days, taking advantage of the time to negotiate a trade agreement between Skyrim and Arendelle that benefitted both nations. During this time, those who frequented Elsa's court became accustomed to seeing Hjadvaar's imposing figure following Elsa wherever she went, until the ones who spent most of their time at court didn't really even notice him anymore. In the evening two days after Ulfric left, however, a messenger entered Elsa's study not long before she would usually retire to her bedchamber for the night.

"I have a message for someone called Hjadvaar. I was told I could find him here." the messenger said, looking around.

"That would be me." the huge man rumbled, taking the letter and handing the messenger a silver half-penny from a small pouch hanging from a belt around his waist. Taking a seat in an empty chair nearby, he broke a heavy wax seal that Elsa didn't recognise, quickly scanned the contents of the letter, and started saying something in a language Elsa couldn't understand, but she guessed he was swearing sulphurously, judging from the tone.

"What does it say?" she asked the fuming Nord curiously, though a part of her really didn't want to know the answer to that question.

"We need to go into the city around midnight to meet someone." he replied. "Someone who should still be in Skyrim, I might add!" he added in a voice dripping with suppressed rage.

"Can't it wait until morning, or can they come here, or something" Elsa asked, fear creeping into her voice. She had gone into the city a few times since her coronation, but those were always in broad daylight with Anna there, and all of the citizens had been told beforehand.

"No, I'm afraid we need to go to her, and it needs to be tonight." He suddenly shot a sidelong glance in her direction. "Unless you want a very angry woman dismantling the palace tomorrow, that is."

"Fine, but I want at least two squads of guards to accompany us."

"No. It has to be only us, and we have to look like commoners. Don't worry, we shouldn't leave for a few hours, and I'll still be armed. Also, although I know you hate them, I strongly recommend you wear gloves, just to add an extra layer to your disguise."

**XXX**

Elsa had objected to the gloves of course, and froze a few rooms out of nerves (and one or two deliberately to try to prove they should at least bring Anna), but the midnight bells found her and her bodyguard wearing nondescript, hooded clothes and moving through the dimly lit streets to God only knows where. Eventually, Hjadvaar led Elsa to a shabby looking inn on the outskirts of town, and strode purposefully to the bar.

"There should be a young woman here, about half a head shorter than my friend here, with dark hair what goes about to her shoulders, and wearing old fashioned clothes." he told the bartender in a voice that broked no nonsense. "She's expecting us."

"Yes, someone matching that description did rent a room here, but why should I believe she's expecting you?" the bartender replied warily.

"You should believe me because I told you, mate." Hjadvaar said, his voice lowering ominously. "Now, do you want to take us to her room, or do you want me to cut your nose off and feed it to you?"

"Umm, she's right this way, sir." The suddenly terrified bartender turned and led them up a staircase.

"You wouldn't actually do that, would you?" Elsa asked under her breath as they followed the bartender.

"Do what?" the huge man asked with a blank expression.

"Cut off his nose and feed it to him."

"Oh!" He paused to consider. "I probably wouldn't feed it to him, but I would cut it off." he finally replied, in a disturbingly calm voice.

"Oh." The ambient temperature dropped by just a few degrees.

"Please, wait here." the bartender said, stopping in front of a door. He turned, entered the chamber beyond, and closed the door behind him.

"I'm sorry, I know you said not to be disturbed, but there are two people here who want to see you, and said you were expecting them." Elsa heard the barman saying, muffled by the door.

"Is one of them really tall with a huge beard and an unpleasant disposition?" she heard an unfamiliar woman's voice say.

"Yes."

"Tell them to come in, please."

"If you say so." The door opened, and the bartender emerged. "She said you can go in. My sincerest apologies for delaying you."

Hjadvaar only grunted in response, and pushed past the man into the chamber beyond with Elsa following close behind. She closed the door behind them, and removed the hood that had started to make her claustrophobic.

"What in Oblivion are you doing here, Serena?!" Hjadvaar was asking a woman sitting by the fireplace, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I said to wait for a month before following me, and yet here you are less than a week later!"

"Calm down, Hjadvaar. I'm here anyway, so getting upset about it won't make any difference. Now, are you going to introduce me to your friend or not?" Hjadvaar glared at the strange woman for a moment, then cleared his throat.

"You have the distinct honor to be in the presence of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle."

"Your Majesty." Serena said with a small curtsy. She then looked back at Hjadvaar. "I expected her to look a little more icy."

"She's in disguise, Serena. Your Majesty, I present Lady Serena of Castle Volikhaar."

"Lady Serena." Elsa said, inclining her head. "Now, what possible reason could you have to ask us to come here - at midnight, of all hours! - to speak to us?"

"Before Hjadvaar left to be your bodyguard, we realised that your domestic intelligence service was very much substandard. I was to follow Hjadvaar to fix that issue."

**Authors Note: Yay, first chapter to break 1000 words! Thanks to everyone who read this far!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Secrets in the Night

**Author's Note: This chapter will be the first time I'll try to change POV mid-chapter. It will be marked with a ~`~ ~'~ symbol. Enjoy!**

Chapter Six - Secrets in the Night

Elsa could only stare at the two people in the room with her. "Domestic intelligence service?" she asked incredulously. "You want me to ask you to spy on my own people?" The temperature dropped, and icicles started to form on the ceiling.

"Our thoughts were more along the lines of removing leaders of potential uprisings and intercepting assassins before they can reach the royal quarters, Your Majesty." Serena said.

"No! I will not be a tyrant! I'm not going to rule my people by force!"

"Elsa, think about this." Hjadvaar interjected. "We don't want to go about reading your people's mail or listening to every whispered conversation. All we want is to have a few people in some of the less reputable alehouses in town, and a few people in the palace to keep an eye out for shady looking people creeping about the halls."

"No! There will be no secret police of any sort!" Before anyone could try to change her mind again, she turned and hurried out of the room, followed by a trail of glistening frost. Hjadvaar swore under his breath

"I'd better go after her before she gets in trouble with someone what wants her dead." he told Serana as a means of saying goodbye, then jogged out to try to catch up with the Queen, leaving Serena to try to figure out how to thaw the ceiling by herself.

Elsa had managed to get halfway to the palace before Hjadvaar caught up with her, and hastened her steps when she noticed him approaching.

"Look, you win." he said after his longer strides finally allowed him to close the distance between them. "We won't form a domestic intelligence service if it would honestly upset you that much. However, I will say now that I believe that leaving us blind this way is nothing less than foolish."

"Just drop it, Hjadvaar." she replied, hugging herself.

"As you wish, Your Majesty." he said, taking his usual position a short distance behind her left shoulder.

**~`~ ~'~**

Unbeknownst to anyone but themselves, a small group of men sat around a table in a dimly lit room in a seedy looking alehouse on the outskirts of town.

"I call this meeting to order." one of them said, standing up from his chair at one end of the table. Any conversation between the others present was instantly silenced.

"We are meeting here tonight," the man continued "to plan how best to rid ourselves of that witch who calls herself the Snow Queen of Arendelle. Fredrik has been asking the people's opinions of her, and has assembled a brief report." The first man sat down as the one called Fredrik rose.

"Thank you, Bjarne." Fredrik said. "Now, for the last week, I have mingled with the people of Arendelle, and have found that if the correct rumors were encouraged, a rebellion could be started. Some small-scale experimentation on my part has led me to conclude that the most effective ones would likely be rumors about the Queen misusing her powers, sleeping around, and mismanaging the kingdom's affairs." Fredrik sat down, and Bjarne stood again.

"Thank you, Fredrik. Now, what I suggest we do is follow up on this information by finding charismatic leaders to spread lies about the witch, then, after the people are properly incensed, we begin trickling weapons into the city and have those leaders encourage an open revolt. Are there any major objections to this plan?" There were none. "I then hereby declare this meeting closed."


	7. Chapter 7 - Royal Tour

**Author's Note: Sorry for missing the past few day's updates, everyone. I had my AP World History test on Thursday, and writing three essays when you don't really know what you're talking about tends to sap one's creativity. Then, I just didn't have enough time to write the chapter out on paper throughout the day yesterday (which I have a personal rule that it will always go on paper before I type it), but at least I had some extra time to plan it out, so I think it turned out for the better.**

Chapter Seven - Royal Tour

Several days had passed since Elsa had met Serena, and she was beginning to forgive Hjadvaar. He hadn't brought the issue up again, at least, and that helped. She sighed, and accepted that he may not have been completely wrong about starting what he called a "domestic intelligence service", and that she might want to apologise for freaking out the way she had. That could wait, though. For now, all she wanted to do was relax in her bed and read a nice book while the morning sun flooded in through the window.

"Your Majesty, it's time to get up." Kai's voice said through the door. "You're scheduled to take a tour of the city today." So much for a vacation.

"Thank you, Kai." she said. "I'll be out in a minute. Have someone prepare a bath for me, please."

"At once, Your Majesty."

**XXX**

Freshly bathed and dressed in her most ornate ice dress to date, Elsa was feeling far better about going into town than when she had first awoken. When she arrived in the courtyard, she found it to be a hive of activity. Servants were running every which way, trying to organise the royal procession into something that somewhat resembled a straight line, which was being complicated by Olaf, who was wandering about getting snow on everyone, and distracting the horses with the prospect of stealing his nose.

"There you are." Hjadvaar said, approaching from the crowd and dressed in slightly more ornate armor than usual. "I was beginning to get worried about you. I was just about to organize a search party." Then he laughed in a short, cackling manner that sent shivers down Elsa's spine. "Are you ready for the tour?" he asked.

"Yes, but I don't see Anna anywhere. Have you seen her?" she replied.

"Hi, everyone!" the very person she had mentioned exclaimed, running out of the castle.

"Speak of the daedra." Hjadvaar chuckled to himself.

"Sorry I'm late." Anna said as she ran up to them. "First I overslept, then the bathwater had gotten cold and needed to be reheated, then there were some problems with me trying to put my shoes on the wrong feet, and time just sorta got away from me."

"Well, we're all here now, so we should probably get going." Hjadvaar said. "Now, where did Olaf get off to? Ah, there he is. I'll be right back." he said, moving off in the general direction of the snowman's telltale flurry. Elsa had to smile at herself as she and her sister took their places at the head of the procession, thinking about the first time her bodyguard had met the errant snowman. He had managed to shock everyone by only seeming curious about how they had managed to give him a personal flurry, only freaking out when the snowman gave him a hug. When Anna asked him how he was so unfazed by the whole 'talking snowman' thing, he only said something about 'getting used to strange things when studying Oblivion'.

"Is everything in readiness?" he asked, startling her out of her reverie. How could such a large man move so quietly, particularly wearing armor?

"Everything seems to be ready." she replied, quickly thawing her horse's reins.

"Let's get this going, then." he said, quickly hanging his shield and helmet on the saddlebow of a waiting horse, mounted, then took his usual position to the Queen's left. "Move out!" he said in a powerful voice, and the procession started out of the gates and onto the causeway towards the city itself. Then, something happened that nobody in the palace had expected. Instead of cheering and applauding the way they usually did, the assembled townspeople only pointed and whispered to each other.

Elsa shrank into her saddle. While the crowd wasn't threatening her, or even really menacing her, 13 years of isolation had made her nervous around crowds, and that combined with the dislike and disgust she could see etched onto many of the faces in that crowd made her distinctly uncomfortable.

"Witch!" someone shouted from the crowd.

"Whore!" another yelled from a different direction. Elsa shrank back from the accusations, as Anna started screaming at the crowd and Hjadvaar drew his sword and readied his shield, moving his horse between her and the throng before them.

"We should return to the palace now." he said, scowling at the assembled townsfolk.

"No." she said in a trembling voice, taking deep breaths to try to calm herself, and only partially succeeding. "There will be a tour of the city, regardless of the opinions of a pair of ignorant townspeople." Personally, of course, she agreed with him, and the prospect of facing that crowd terrified her. Hjadvaar only looked pointedly at her hands, and she realised she had frozen her reins again.

"Your Majesty." he said, looking back to the crowd, "As the man responsible for your safety, I feel it is my duty to inform you that I have seen situations like this before, and they always end in violence. I can tell that you don't even really want to face that, anyway." He continued to scowl at the crowd, where the insults had spread, and had been joined by jeers, coming in a wave of hostility. Elsa decided that her bodyguard actually had a good point.

"We're returning to the palace now." she finally said. The entire procession parted, and she, Anna, Hjadvaar, and Olaf rode back across the causeway to the safety of the thick palace walls, followed by the angry sounds of the crowd.

**XXX**

Throughout the day, everyone in the palace pondered the sudden change in the disposition of the people of Arendelle towards the Queen. Eventually, Elsa decided that she had probably made a mistake when she had rejected Hjadvaar's idea to form his "domestic intelligence service"

"Hjadvaar?" she began that evening in the throne room, somewhat reluctantly.

"Aye?" he replied.

"Do you remember how I didn't like the idea you and that Serena woman had a few nights ago? The one about the secret police?"

"Aye. You froze a good portion of Serena's room, if I recall correctly." She chose to ignore that last part, though she did feel a pang of guilt.

"Well, I've had a change of heart. Hire some people to see why I'm suddenly so unpopular, please."

"I'll begin looking at potential recruits tomorrow, Your Majesty." He began to pace. "I think we'll want to pay special attention to anyone throwing the word 'whore' around. So far as I'm aware, you've never slept with anyone but yourself, but several people in that crowd seemed to believe you had. Following that trail may be our best bet to finding the source of all this." He was interrupted just then by an exhausted looking soldier suddenly barging in through the main doors at the end of the room.

"Your Majesty!" the man gasped for breath for a moment. "A large group of townspeople is approaching the palace, carrying torches and tools, shouting 'Burn the lecherous witch!'." Hjadvaar's face suddenly took on a commanding look.

"Seal the gates and raise an alarm!" he said in a voice more fitting to a general than a Queen's bodyguard. "I want archers on the walls and spearmen in the courtyard. Everyone else should stay mobile to counter any threat that arises." He looked at Elsa and Anna. "Is there any other way out of the palace?" he asked, his face intent. A sinking feeling entered Elsa's stomach, and frost started to creep across the floor and up the walls.

"No." she said. Anna confirmed that a second later.

"Then we fight them off or die." Hjadvaar said, squaring his shoulders and placing his dreadfully horned helmet on his head.

**~`~ ~'~**

Fredrik raced through the empty streets of Arendelle, ignoring how tired he was becoming. After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the ill-maintained alehouse on the edge of town he participated in secret meetings at. He quickly went inside and hurried up a flight of stairs and down a corridor towards a partially open door, behind which someone was talking.

"It's still far too early for that, Esben." Bjarne was saying when Fredrik entered the room. "We need to get the rebellion almost ready before we can proceed with that."

"My men are getting impatient, Bjarne." the man named Esben said. "They're getting tired of waiting in the woods doing nothing."

"Have them raid some caravans, then. We'll talk more later." He looked up. "Hello, Fredrik. How goes the spreading of discord?" he asked, then looked closer. "God, what happened to you? You look awful."

"Do you remember how we were going to spread lies about the Queen to try to start a revolt?" Fredrik asked intently.

"Yes, of course. What does that have to do with anything?"

"It worked better than we expected."

"Well, that's good." Bjarne looked back to Esben. "You can tell those brigands of yours that we'll be advancing ahead of schedule." he said.

"You don't understand what I just said, Bjarne." Fredrik interrupted. "The people are rebelling _now_." A look of horror suddenly replaced the smug expression on Bjarne's face.

"God, they haven't been armed yet!They'll be slaughtered!" he said, aghast. Fredrik could only stare at him helplessly.

**WARNING: The next chapter will be exceedingly violent, and it _will_ be described in loving detail. If that would upset any readers, _do not read the next chapter._ I will summarize it at the beginning of the following chapter. Viewer discretion is _strongly_ advised.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Revolt

**Author's Note: I had some difficulty getting started with this chapter, so I started it off less than a second after the end of the last one, and will probably move it there at a future date. On another note, you finally have a chance to see the story from Hjadvaar's point of view, so yay for that!**

Chapter Eight - Revolt

"Which one of you has more muscle?" Hjadvaar asked Anna and Elsa. "Quickly arm wrestle if you don't know." The two sisters hastily put their elbows on a nearby desk, and Elsa's hand almost immediately struck the polished wooden surface, with Anna's firmly on top.

"Good. Here, take this." Hjadvaar said, pulling a very large, rusted looking mace boasting numerous hook-like protrusions extending from it out of one of his belts and handing it to Anna. "Hopefully, you won't have to use this, but if you do, it's very effective. It's the mace of Molag Bal, so it's an exceptionally powerful weapon." He turned to go direct the imminent battle from the courtyard, then stopped and turned back. "By the by, it'll probably talk to you. If you value your soul, don't listen to it." He then turned and raced towards the courtyard, readying his shield and drawing the sword on his back, while Anna stared at the cruel implement in her hands, then leaned it against the wall and determinedly didn't look at it.

**~`~ ~'~**

By the time Hjadvaar reached the gate to the courtyard, he saw to his chagrin that several dozen rebels were already on the wall and had managed to capture the few archers that had not been killed, even as more clambered over the battlements by the second. He realised that the archers probably hadn't even fired a single arrow, and that the assembled footmen in the courtyard probably weren't much more inclined to fight. Thankfully, a group of about a half-dozen seemed somewhat more willing to defend their Queen than the rest of the rabble, and Hjadvaar sprinted over to them.

"Make your way to the throne room!" he bellowed at them. "You'll be our last line of defence!"

"Yes, sir!" they said, and ran towards the gate to the castle. Hjadvaar looked around at his troops, and desperately attempted to think of a way to salvage the situation. Unfortunately, several other soldiers had seen the group returning to the castle, and assumed Hjadvaar had ordered a retreat, even as he screamed at them to get into formation by the castle gate. Thankfully, the majority decided to face the horde of rebels rather than the Queen's bodyguard, and promptly formed into a rough spear wall, supported by those with hand weapons and shields in the front ranks. Then, rebels already in the courtyard unbolted the gate in the outer wall, and a sea of howling men wielding torches and hand tools flooded towards the pitifully small formation of soldiers, the majority of which decided to fall back into the main castle, and Hjadvaar reluctantly agreed with them as they ran into the grand hall and closed the gate behind them, leaving a small handful to be torn apart by the mob.

"Move everything you can in front of that door!" Hjadvaar barked, as more than a dozen axes began gouging the wood. Before the soldiers could even begin to comply, however, the gate buckled, and hundreds of bloodthirsty men charged through, killing the majority of the guards before they could even move to defend themselves.

"Fall back!" Hjadvaar bellowed to the few soldiers who could still be of use if they could get into some sort of formation. "Fall back to the throne room!" He then turned and raced down the corridor to the last possible line of defence they had.

Upon bursting into the throne room, the soldiers immediately closed and bolted the door, and didn't even have to be ordered to begin throwing anything they could get their hands on in front of it.

"That's enough! Get into formation!" Hjadvaar barked as soon as he heard the telltale sound of axes striking the door. "This is where we have to stand!" he said in a desperate attempt to motivate the troops in the hall with him. "There can be no more retreat! We will hold here or we will not hold at all and will be slaughtered! Victory or Sovngarde!" crying the last bit just as the great doors and hastily-constructed barricade collapsed.

The rebels hit the formation with a resounding crash, similarly to how a large wave might smash into a boulder. Hjadvaar quickly sliced the belly of the nearest rebel open, then spun and embedded his shield into the skull of a second as the first writhed about on the floor, squealing until he was trampled to death by his comrades. Hjadvaar parried an overhead attack with his shield and ran his attacker through, then lopped the arm off a second and cleaved a third man nearly in half, causing the poor man's organs to fall to the ground in a heap as a fourth rebel got his head and and left shoulder hacked off of his torso by a massive overhand swing. Hjadvaar suddenly realised that there were no friendly soldiers in front of him, and saw a chance to tip the odds slightly in his favor.

"**Fus, ro dah!**" he cried in a huge voice, and nearly two dozen men standing in front of him suddenly found themselves flying through the air as he turned to engage the rebels to his left. The moment of respite that had bought him didn't last long, however, and he quickly felt a poorly aimed attack glance off the back of his armor, and relieved his attacker of his head for his trouble.

Despite this initial success, the sheer number of rebels eventually forced him to begin giving ground, one step at a time. At this point, a man almost as large as Hjadvaar himself charged forward wielding a massive wooden mallet, swung a vicious blow at the head of the Queen's bodyguard, and connected, knocking the horned helmet halfway across the room and sending him reeling back from the blow with unfocused eyes. He raised his shield to defend his head, but this left his midsection dangerously exposed, and a rebel with an axe took advantage of that fact to direct a swing there, which bit into the armor and sunk deep into the flesh below, causing blood to begin flowing out.

Hjadvaar bellowed in pain and ran the axeman through the testicles, and was rewarded with a shriek of agony. He was on the defensive now, though, and was losing ground fast as more wounds began to appear on his limbs and torso, though he still killed several more rebels before his sword was knocked from his hand.

"**Yol, toor shul**!" he yelled, and a ring of flame burst from his mouth, igniting nearly three dozen rebels and filling the throne room with screams, smoke, and the reek of burning flesh. Fortunately for the burning rebels, many of their companions took it upon themselves to put their burning comrades out of their misery before turning back to the Queen's bodyguard, who had pulled an unpleasant-looking axe out of one of his belts. He had basically recovered from the blow to his head by now, but was still giving ground. He continued to fight fiercely for several more minutes, until he eviscerated one rebel, turned to engage another, and slipped in the ensuing pool of blood and organs and went down.

**~`~ ~'~**

Elsa watched the battle raging in her throne room, stuck in place by terror, a terror that only increased when she saw Hjadvaar throwing men through the air simply by yelling at them, and the thin layer of frost around her thickened and expanded, stretching halfway across the room. Eventually, she realised that Anna was screaming at her to pull herself together, and she barely managed to, intending to raise a wall of ice to protect herself and Hjadvaar - just in time to see him badly wounded by a rebel axeman and start setting people on fire with his voice, locking her straight back into panic mode. This time, Anna skipped the screaming and immediately grabbed her sister by the shoulders and started shaking her. Finally, seeing that she wasn't really making any progress, she raised her hand and slapped the Snow Queen of Arendelle across the face.

"Snap out of it, Elsa!" she shrieked. The slap achieved the desired effect, and Elsa leapt to her feet just in time to see Hjadvaar fall to the ground with a resounding crash. This time, however, instead of causing her to sink back into panic, it cleared her head and let her think. She immediately raised both her hands, and a huge slab of ice two feet thick slowly rose between her bodyguard and the rebel mob. Once the wall had reached unscalable heights, she began creating replicas of Marshmellow, giving them larger arms without ice fingers in the hopes that they wouldn't wind up killing any more people than they absolutely had to. After she had created approximately two dozen of them, she melted a portion of the ice wall, and the rebels charged through, directly into the waiting arms of Elsa's new snow soldiers.

Seeing that her new army was quite capable of holding its own, she melted the rest of the ice, (including the frost on and around her throne), and the rebels quickly realised that their new enemies were quite literally unkillable - torches had long since been abandoned in favor of knives, dirks, and various weapons taken from fallen or captured guards - and began an unorganized rout to the city, which resulted in further deaths by trampling, suffocation, and even a few stabbings.

After the last of the rebels was chased off of palace grounds, Elsa looked over the dreadful carnage in her throne room. She saw dozens of mutilated corpses, many of which were missing large chunks of their torso or even entire limbs, a sea of blood on the floor and walls, and the piles of internal organs scattered haphazardly about, and she smelled the reek of burned flesh. She saw Hjadvaar struggling to his feet, which she took as a good sign, then stumbled behind her throne and began to vomit, realizing that Anna was already doing so.

**~`~ ~'~**

The dimly lit room in the alehouse on the outskirts of town was fuller than Fredrik had ever seen it before. Clearly, he was only privy to a small part of the conspiracy against the Queen, and he was honest enough with himself to admit that he preferred it that way. Before he could think about the issue any more, Bjarne stood up and called the meeting to order.

"I called this emergency meeting," he began, "to discuss our plans now that our rebellion has failed." He looked around the room. "I highly doubt that the witch will remain oblivious to us for a week if we continue to spread rumors about her. Instead, I have contacts in Italy who should be able to take care of the situation. Are there any objections?" As was usually the case, there were none. "Then I declare this meeting closed. Fredrik, Esben, stay, and we'll talk."


	9. Chapter 9 - Battle Scars

**Author's Note: Sorry for just sort of abandoning you guys. I had to do my finals on the last three days of last week, then I needed a day of downtime, then I had to perform at graduation of Sunday, and I just didn't have any time until yesterday due to family obligation. I finally had a chance to get this put together, though, so here it is.**

**SUMMARY: Due to the violence in the previous chapter, I have decided to summarize it here. In short, Hjadvaar gave Anna the Mace of Molag Bal to Anna to use as a very last resort, and the defenders of Castle Arendelle were pushed back to the throne room, taking heavy losses, while about a quarter of the population tried to kill the Queen. Hjadvaar demonstrated the power of the Thu'um to great effect, but eventually took an axe to the gut. He fought valiantly for several minutes, but slipped and fell. When that happened, Elsa created a wall of ice between him and the rebels, and created about two dozen snow giants, who then drove the rebels away. Following this, she and Anna went behind the throne to puke their guts out.**

Chapter 9 - Battle Scars

Elsa awakened in her bed with a start, and immediately groaned and put a hand to her head to try to banish a splitting headache that had developed in her sleep.

"Kristoff, Kai, she's awake!" she heard Anna's familiar voice say, and looked over to see her sister standing by her bed, accompanied by Kai and Kristoff. "How are you feeling?" Anna asked, a concerned look on her face.

"My head hurts." Elsa replied with another groan. "I had a dream last night. I dreamed that there was a revolt, and Hjadvaar could do things with his voice and took an axe to his side, and I made a bunch of Marshmallows."

"Yeah, about that." Anna said, somewhat hesitantly. That wasn't a good sign. "That wasn't a dream. They're still cleaning the throne room, actually. I wouldn't go in there anytime soon." Elsa didn't know what to think, and was in fact too shocked to even frost the bed, much to everyone's surprise. After a moment, she threw the covers to the side and scrambled to her feet.

"Where's Hjadvaar?" she asked, then realised that everyone had turned to face the opposite wall, and that Kristoff was actually trembling slightly.

"Ah, you may wish to dress before you see him, Your Majesty." Kai said.

"I am dre-" Elsa said, before realising that she was, in fact, stark naked. "Oh." she said, feeling blood rush to her face. "Um, one moment." _Of course it melted._ she thought to herself as she created a new ice dress, referring to the one she had worn the previous day. _I just hope I was already in bed before it melted._ "Alright, I'm decent. Now, where's Hjadvaar?"

"He's this way." Anna said, turning back around. "You should blush more often, Elsa. You need more color." she remarked as she led the Queen out the door and down the hall. Elsa chose not to comment on that, instead concentrating on ignoring the fact that she had just been naked in front of her sister, head of staff, and her sisters' boyfriend. Eventually, Anna led her to a large room adjoining the throne room, where an impromptu hospital had been thrown together and filled with wounded soldiers, many of whom had been laid on tables, or even the floor. Elsa felt numb as she passed men with bloody bandages wrapped around their heads, torsos, and stumps of missing arms or legs. Finally, they reached a table where Hjadvaar lay as if he were sleeping, with Serena watching from nearby.

"He's been slipping in and out of consciousness." the Tamrellic woman said. "The healers managed to stop most of the bleeding, but it's a little touch-and-go. We didn't think we'd need very many health potions, and there's no way to make more here, so…" She spread her hands helplessly. Elsa simply stared at her bodyguard for a moment, then created a small block of ice and placed it on his forehead, somehow thinking that would help. To her slight surprise, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Come to see me off to Sovngarde?" he asked in a voice filled with pain.

"Sovngarde?" Elsa asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

"The mead hall of the dead." the injured Nord explained. "I was promised a place when I slew Alduin the World Eater. Now, if you didn't come to see me die, I would like to do something about this scratch now that I'm conscious enough to think coherently. Serena, could you help me up and lend me a shoulder?" With some assistance, he managed to stagger to his feet, and leaned rather heavily on Serenas' shoulder, gasping for breath and cradling the wound on his side. After a moment, he raised his hands in front of himself, and they filled with a golden light, which then cascaded from his head to his feet as the Arendellians looked on in awe. When the strange light show ended, Hjadvaar stood up straight, with his arms by his side and no trace of the wounds which had previously covered him, save for some now unnecessary bandages.

"How did you do that?" Anna asked in a voice filled with wonder.

"I studied Restoration magic for a short time in Cyrodiil. It's not very difficult. Now, what happened after the fight?"

"Nothing particularly earth-shattering." Kai said. "After the Queen and Princess finished their - ah, business - behind the throne, you passed out from blood loss and fell on Her Majesty, knocking her out as well."

"That explains the headache." Elsa muttered to herself.

"Not long after that," Kai continued, ignoring the interruption. "This Serena woman appeared at the gate and demanded to see you. About fifteen minutes later, Master Bjorgman and the reindeer came galloping up the causeway inquiring about Princess Anna."

"It's Kristoff." Kristoff said. "How many times do I have to tell you, call me Kristoff."

"So there were no more attempts to storm the castle?" Hjadvaar asked in a surprised tone of voice.

"No, there were not." Kai answered. "Those snow giants seem to have scared everyone back in line."

"Oh, no." Elsa said, suddenly remembering the massive snowmen she had created the night before. "What are we going to do with them?"

"If I could make a suggestion," Hjadvaar said, "Let them take over my duties as your bodyguard for a time while I train new guards. There aren't very many left, if I recall correctly." Elsa considered Hjadvaar's suggestion.

"Alright. You start the new recruits in their training, then turn them over to any veterans we have left after a couple of weeks. After that, you can resume your normal duties."

"Yes, Your Majesty." He suddenly clapped his hands together. "Now, does anyone know where I can find a bottle of mead?"

**~`~ ~'~**

Fredrik trudged through the streets of Arendelle, muttering to himself. His entire role in the meeting last night was to be demoted from 'valued liaison to the people' to 'errand boy'. To think, him carrying instructions to a local forger to copy the Queen's seal and signature! He couldn't even read the letter he was carrying, due to it being in Italian for some obscure reason. Then, of course, he'd been kicked out before Esben had gotten his instructions. Finally, he arrived at the address he had been told to go to and knocked four times. After a moment, a slit opened in the door at about eye level, and an older-looking pair of eyes bored into him.

"What do you want?" the eyes said in a grumpy sort of voice.

"Bjarne told me to have you copy the Queen's seal and signature onto this letter, and that I was to pay you ten silver pennies for it." Fredrik replied, equally grumpy.

"Ten?!" the eyes exclaimed. "I'll take no less than fifteen!"

"I was told to give you ten. If you want to complain, take it up with Bjarne." The eyes glowered at him.

"Fine, ten. But you tell Bjarne that next time he expects me to work for so little, he'd better have a damn good reason."


	10. Chapter 10 - Strangers in the Halls

**Authors Note: A short chapter this time, but an interesting one none the less, in my opinion.**

Chapter Ten - Strangers in the Halls

The Northern Lights were out in full force, and that meant that Anna was wide awake, despite the late hour. She tried several methods to pass the time until the sky went to sleep - reading hadn't held her interest for more than a few pages, she couldn't think of anything to write about, and counting non-existent sheep was just boring. Finally, she threw on a robe and went wandering the halls, looking for something to do.

Her first stop was the kitchen, looking for chocolate. Unfortunately, the cooks all knew of the royal sisters' love of the treat, and had grown quite proficient at hiding it over the years, so Anna moved on feeling slightly disappointed. She decided that Joan might have thought of a new way to pass the time, and set off towards the gallery to talk to the painting, taking a shortcut through the servants wing she had discovered a few years ago. About halfway there, though, she stopped. Someone was picking the lock on a door, and seemed to have just finished, because he quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

On an impulse, Anna followed him, and almost immediately wished she hadn't. Bending over a sleeping servant was a figure Anna almost recognised, but couldn't, thanks to the poor lighting. The figure had opened his mouth to reveal a set of teeth that were longer and sharper than natural, and seemed about to bite the neck of the snoring servant, but suddenly stopped and looked directly at Anna. Before she could get a good look at his face, though, he simply vanished. Anna was suddenly shoved to the side by invisible arms, heard disembodied footsteps running down the hall, and gave chase. After a couple of minutes, she turned a corner and saw Hjadvaar strolling towards her, dressed in normal clothes rather than armor for once.

"Your Highness." he said, sounding surprised. "I didn't expect to run into you this late. What are you doing running about the castle at this hour?"

"The sky's awake." Anna said, stopping to catch her breath. "Did you hear anyone running? I saw someone look like they were about to bite someone, but they looked at me and just disappeared!"

"The only person I've seen or heard in the last quarter-hour is you, Your Highness, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Shall I escort you back to your bedchamber?"

"Please, Hjadvaar, call me Anna, and I'd actually been on my way to the gallery to talk to Joan."

"Shall I accompany you to the gallery, then, Princess Anna?"

"Okay! I'll introduce you to Joan." They started walking towards the gallery with Anna in the lead and Hjadvaar following not far behind. "So, why were you walking around the castle?" Anna asked to stave off silence.

"An old wound was acting up." the huge Nord replied, putting one hand to his neck. Anna looked at the area where his fingers had come to rest, and saw a scar in the shape of a bite mark which had previously escaped her notice.

"How did you get that?" she asked.

"A man believed he was a vampire and bit me. I disillusioned him later."

"That must have been painful." Anna said, shuddering at the thought.

"Not so painful as the time I-"

"No no no, that's okay, I don't need to know about your worst injuries."

"Of course, Princess Anna. My apologies." They continued in silence for a few moments.

"So, what was that thing where you threw people around and set people on fire by yelling at them?" Anna asked to ward off the awkward silence.

"That was a Thu'um, or a Shout in our tongue. It is the bending of reality with the Voice, as the Dovah do." Hjadvaar explained.

"Dovah?"

"Dragons, in our tongue. They refer to themselves as Dovah, or as Dov to refer to dragonkind."

"Dragons?" Anna asked, excitement creeping into her voice. "Real, actual dragons? Where are they? Can I see one? What do they look like? Do they speak our language?" Hjadvaar chuckled.

"You're just as bad as Farengar." he said. "I will tell you all about dragons later. For now, you seemed excited when I demonstrated Restoration magic. Would you care to receive instruction?" Anna was stunned. Her, learning magic? It seemed impossible. But, Hjadvaar had said it wasn't hard.

"Could I?" she asked, not daring to hope.

"I would not be able to educate you to the same degree as the professors at the College at Winterhold, but I can instruct you in the basics, though magic is not my specialty. We can begin after I'm done training the guards tomorrow. For now, we seem to have arrived at the gallery."


	11. Chapter 11 - Training Grounds

Chapter Eleven - Training Grounds

Elsa wasn't having a particularly pleasant morning. She was still debating with herself about her choice to allow Hjadvaar's domestic intelligence service, and she didn't trust any of the members she'd met. In addition to that, the uprising from a few days ago had created a thousand little administrative details that absolutely _had_ to have her undivided attention, as well as making it necessary for Hjadvaar to train new guards rather than make certain that all of the palace functionaries actually did their jobs rather than sit on their hands about them like he had been in addition to his official bodyguard duties. Also, she had just received word from the King of the Southern Isles that Prince Hans had been broken out of prison while awaiting trial - _almost a month ago!_ On top of all that, she still had to hold court for the day, where she would have to listen to a hundred versions of the count of so-and-so listing reasons why he should be exempt from some part of the tax code. She sighed, and mentally swore to herself that as soon as things calmed down a bit, she was taking a vacation to her ice palace for a few days.

"Your Majesty," Kai said, sticking his head through the door. "Court begins in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you, Kai." Elsa said, trying to ignore a throbbing headache that was beginning to develop in her left temple. "I'll be down in just a moment." She quickly checked a mirror to make certain that she was presentable, then got up and walked towards the longest three hours of the day.

**~`~ ~'~**

Hjadvaar stood in the shadows of a doorway, watching the assembled recruits mill about the courtyard. Almost all of them were less than impressive in their thrown-together, homemade uniforms, largely because almost none of the uniforms came even close to matching. He'd make them soldiers yet, though, given time. Speaking of time, he pulled something the head butler had called a "watch" out of a pouch at his belt and checked it. Training didn't technically begin for another ten minutes, but they'd have to learn that when he said 'be fifteen minutes early', he meant it. Putting the clockwork contraption back into his pouch, he took a deep breath and marched out into the bright courtyard.

"Form up!" he bellowed when he was about 20 paces away from the recruits, and all movement and conversation stopped immediately. _Good_, Hjadvaar thought to himself. _At least they have disciplin_. "I am Stormblade Hjadvaar," he said as means of introduction. "And I will be your head trainer for the next few weeks, at which point your training will be taken over by our veterans. For now, though, you can put your weapons aside. A true warrior cannot fight without balance, so we shall meditate for a time."

"Meditation?" a voice came from the midst of the crowd. "I didn't come here to be a monk, I came to fight people!" One of the recruits, slightly larger than most of the rest, pushed his way through the crowd until he was right in front of Hjadvaar. "I don't think you really know how to fight." the recruit said, obviously itching for a fight. Well, Hjadvaar certainly hated to disappoint.

"What's your name, recruit?" he asked the obnoxious man trying unsuccessfully to intimidate him.

"Jyri Bergstrom."

"Could everyone please form a circle about 20 paces wide?" Hjadvaar said. "Jyri here has just volunteered to help demonstrate the importance of balance." He then drew one of his spare swords and tossed it to the offensive recruit. "Don't cut yourself on it, it's sharp." He then waited for the new soldiers to form a circle, which took longer than it really had to due to many of them placing bets on who would win, the majority of which seemed to be in the favor of Jyri.

"All right, Jyri," he said. "Try to kill me." To Jyri's credit, he did try. He charged at Hjadvaar with the borrowed sword held in both hands over his head, while Hjadvaar just stood still, not even bothering to take out a weapon of his own. Then, at the last possible moment, he grabbed the charging man's wrist, wrenched the sword out of his hands, spun, and slashed across the recruit's belly with just the very tip of the blade, producing a thin line of blood, then spun and punched the man right in the side of the head, all in less than a second.

"Are there any other volunteers?" he asked as Jyri slowly clambered to his feet and stumbled back into the crowd. There were none. "Then it is time for us to meditate."

**~`~ ~'~**

Anna could only describe her mood as ecstatic. Elsa had taken her supper in her study, citing a headache, which had put a bit of a damper on her mood, but _she was about to learn magic_! She and Hjadvaar had found an unused room in the southern wing of the palace with a good view of the harbour that Hjadvaar had deemed suitable for instruction, and they were just about to begin her first lesson.

"To begin," Hjadvaar said," Most prospective mages would learn the basic theory behind a spell from a spellbook before attempting to perform it. However, the only spellbooks I know of are written in Cyrodilic, so we'll have to wait until I can get it translated to do that. Now, to actually perform the spell, you should raise your hands to about shoulder height as though you were holding a pair of fist-sized stones." Anna did so, barely able to contain her excitement. "Now, you must direct your magicka into your hands with the purpose to heal yourself." Anna tried, and grunted with effort. She searched for the magicka Hjadvaar had told her about, but couldn't find it. She tried for about fifteen minutes before Hjadvaar put his hand on her shoulder.

"Perhaps we were hasty." he said. "We'll try again once the spellbook is translated." Anna sighed, and nodded her agreement. It probably wouldn't take more than a few days for the book to be translated, and she swore to herself that when that happened, she'd learn faster than anyone else.

**~`~ ~'~**

Fredrik grumbled to himself as he settled into a cramped shipboard cabin. He'd been told to carry that bloody letter around in Rome wearing some ridiculous set of clothes and allow himself to get mugged by someone wearing white robes. At least he'd be able to see some of the landmarks he'd heard some Italian merchants blabbering about. _Still_, he thought to himself, _One more job like these last ones and I'm leaving. I'm not being paid enough for this._ His thoughts were interrupted just then by his supper deciding to go on vacation. "Of course I get seasick." he muttered, wiping his mouth. "What else could go wrong?"

**~`~ ~'~**

Esben walked up to the dimly lit alehouse room and entered without knocking. He didn't really like Bjarne, but he was willing to tolerate him, just so long as he got paid. These last few days, though, Bjarne hadn't been giving him or his men in the forest any jobs to do, and they were getting tired of sitting around watching the trees grow.

"Bjarne." he said rather abruptly.

"What is it, Esben?" Bjarne said, looking up from some papers he had been reading.

"My men won't stand for much more inactivity. Give them two more days and they'll start coming after me in my sleep, and then they'll start coming after you. If we don't do the job tomorrow, I'm breaking off our deal." Bjarne sighed, and buried his face in his hands.

"Fine, do the job." he said wearily. "But if everything falls apart because of this, you'll take the full blame." Esben didn't even grace him with a reply as he walked out.


	12. Chapter 12 - Dirty Deeds

Chapter Twelve - Dirty Deeds

It was about 8:00 in the evening, and Anna and Kristoff were walking through the palace gardens after watching the sun set over the mountains. The walk had actually been Anna's idea, an evening stroll having become a habit during the years when the gates were still shut. Eventually, they rounded a bend in the path they were following and saw a man trying to walk down the path and hold onto his ankle at the same time.

"Excuse me," the man said, stopping when he saw them. "But I fell down, and I'm afraid I sprained my ankle. Could you please help me to the castle?"

"Of course we'll help!" Anna said, and started moving towards the man, only to be brought up short by Kristoff grabbing her arm.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Anna." he said. "Something about this doesn't feel right here."

"Well, can't you see he's hurt?" Anna retorted, gesturing towards the man with her free arm. "I'm helping him, even if you aren't!" Then, in a surprising display of strength, she wrenched her arm free from the mountain man's grasp and started jogging towards the man. Kristoff wasn't really given any choice but to do the same, minus the arm-wrenching. When they were both supporting one of the man's arms, they started helping him hobble up the path. Suddenly, Anna heard a rustling behind them, and felt something solid strike her in the back of her head. She never remembered hitting the ground.

**~`~ ~'~**

Elsa was pacing in her study. It was almost 11:00 in the morning, so she should really have been getting ready for court, but she was seriously considering cancelling court for the day, due to Anna and Kristoff's unexplained absence. Neither of them had been in their chambers when the servants had gone in to wake them. That by itself wasn't cause for concern - both were prone to wandering, and it wasn't uncommon for one or both of them to sleep in a storeroom. However, they had also missed breakfast, and while Elsa hadn't had very much time to get to know her sister and barely knew Kristoff at all, she knew that they _never_ missed a meal if it could_ possibly_ be avoided. Just then, Kai entered the room.

"Court begins in fifteen minutes, Your Majesty." he said. "Also, a man outside the gate asked me to give you this message." He produced a folded piece of parchment from one of his pockets and handed it to Elsa, who quickly read its contents as the temperature plummeted and frost began to creep outward from the spot at which she stood.

"Court is cancelled for today." she said, quickly re-folding the message and placing it near the fire to avoid freezing it. "Please tell Hjadvaar that his presence is required here."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Kai said leaving the frigid room as the Snow Queen of Arendelle resumed her pacing in a one-room ice palace.

**~`~ ~'~**

When Kai came looking for him, Hjadvaar was in the courtyard leading a sparring session to gauge how skilled the recruits already were. Around a dozen had ganged up on him, but he wasn't having too much trouble holding his own against them.

"Alright, that's enough." he told the recruits trying to strike him with their wooden training weapons when he saw Kai approaching. "Spar amongst yourselves for a while." He then turned and faced the Head of Staff approaching him.

"Your presence is requested in the Queen's study, Lord Hjadvaar." Kai said. Hjadvaar grunted and turned to face the recruits.

"Take a five-minute break!" he bellowed, easily heard even above the noise produced by the fighting. "If I'm not back by then, get back to training!" He then started walking towards the main door to the castle.

**XXX**

When Hjadvaar entered the Queen's study, the first thing he noticed was that he practically had to break the door down to open it. The second thing he noticed was that the only part of the room not covered in a thick layer of frost was the fireplace. The third thing he noticed was that Elsa was pacing and hugging herself tightly, looking even paler than usual, something Hjadvaar hadn't even thought was possible.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, knowing that it was a stupid question. Elsa wouldn't have frozen her study if something wasn't wrong. Instead of giving a reply, though, Elsa just pointed at the fireplace and kept pacing and hugging herself. Hjadvaar went over to the fireplace, and noticed the folded parchment. He quickly unfolded it, saw that it was a note, and read it.

'Your Majesty,

We have captured Kristoff Bjorgman and Princess Anna, and are holding them hostage in the forest. We assure you that they are being well treated, but that will change if our demands are not satisfied. Our demands, in short, are that you abdicate your throne for the Royal Council to elect a new King. If these demands are met, Bjorgman and the Princess will be returned no worse for wear. If these demands are not met within the a period of one week, however, we regret to inform you that we will be forced to kill Bjorgman. If another week passes without abdication after that, we will be forced to kill the princess.'

By the time he finished reading the letter, Hjadvaar's face was twisted into a snarl of fury, and he turned to face Kai, who was waiting in the hall.

"Tell Serana to come here." he said, barely able to contain his rage. He then stalked to the window and tried to break the ice covering the latch and hinges. When that failed, he simply stepped back and Shouted the window to pieces, then leaned out.

"Training is dismissed!" he bellowed at the startled recruits. After that, he joined Elsa in her pacing, actually trembling with rage. After just a moment, though, he stopped and threw his head back.

**"Nikriine!"** he roared, and the ground began to tremble violently as ice rained down from the walls and ceiling. **"Hi verhask stahraalle fiid hi dreh ni krif heinmaar! Nikriinne!"*** He then resumed his pacing while the ground returned to its usual non-earthquake motions, and Elsa stared at him with a look of awe and terror similar to the one Anna had worn upon his arrival.

_*Translation: Cowards! You endanger innocents while you do not fight yourselves! Cowards!_

**Author's Note: Well, folks, here it is. Part 1 of the chapter I've been wanting to write since Chapter 2. I was originally going to have this one and the next one be all one chapter, but literarily it works out better this way, I think. I'm not even sure 'literarily' is even a word.**


	13. Chapter 13 - Retribution

Chapter Thirteen - Retribution

The sun was already high above the mountains by the time Anna opened her eyes, only to discover that she was sitting in a forest clearing surrounded by unwashed men wearing animal furs and carrying weapons.

"Are you okay, Anna?" she heard Kristoff's voice say, and looked over to see him sitting not far away with his hands tied behind a post and looking at her with a concerned expression on his face.

"I'm okay, other than a headache." Anna replied, realizing that she was also tied to a post. "Are you okay?"

"I have a thick skull, remember? Sven and Elsa are probably out of their minds worrying about us, though. Actually, I'm a little surprised we haven't been buried by a blizzard yet." He was interrupted just then by one of the men in the clearing approaching Anna.

"Hello, Pretty." the man leered. "Now that you're awake, how's about we go have a little fun?"

"Actually, I think I'd rather not." Anna said, trying to put distance between herself and the bandit, somewhat less than successfully.

"Well, I don't really think you're in any position to say no, now are you?"

"Leave her alone, you bastard!" Kristoff shouted, and received a kick in the face for his trouble, in addition to attracting the attention of just about everyone in the camp. The bandit then reached down and roughly grabbed the front of Anna's dress.

"Hands off, Kjall." a new voice said from behind Anna, causing the first man to jump up just in time to avoid a vicious bite directed at his wrist.

"It's just a quick tumble, Esben." he said, walking around the post Anna was tied to. "I don't see no harm in it."

"I was told to make sure she was treated well." the man called Esben said. "It's either hands off her, or hands off your arms."

"Your deal with that Bjarne guy's brought us nothing but trouble. I don't think you're the best one to be in charge anymore." Anna craned her neck to get a look at the argument, and say that a crowd was forming.

"And I take it you think you are?" Esben was saying.

"I don't see why it shouldn't be me." Kjall said, now just inches away from Esben. Quite suddenly, Esben's hand shot up, and blood cascaded from a deep gash along the side of Kjall's neck. Esben wiped a knife in his hand on the dead man's clothes, then replaced it in his sleeve as he approached Anna.

"I apologise for Kjall, Princess." he said, squatting so his face was level with her's. "I assure you that won't happen again."

"Why did you bring us here?" Anna asked.

"I was told to, in exchange for continued protection." He then rose to his feet and walked away before Anna could ask him any more questions. Just then, an earthquake shook the camp, and all but the most agile bandits were flung to the ground before it dissipated.

**~`~ ~'~**

Elsa had gotten over the initial shock of Hjadvaar's earthquake by the time Serana arrived in her study, and had resumed her pacing. Almost the second the Tamrielic woman entered the room, Hjadvaar went over and said something that Elsa couldn't understand, nor could she understand the reply. After a brief exchange, Hjadvaar walked to the window.

"**Feinn, zii gron!**" he shouted, and suddenly became transparent and took on a pale blue coloration. Then, he jumped out the window into the courtyard below. Elsa rushed to the window and looked out, expecting to see Hjadvaar's broken corpse on the flagstones. Instead, she saw him walking towards the center of the courtyard.

"How did he do that?" Elsa asked in a trembling voice.

"He Shouted so that he could not be harmed." Serana replied, and Elsa noticed that she was careful not to let the sunlight coming in from the window to fall on her skin. "He's going to do something even more impressive in just a moment."

"**Durnehviir!**" Elsa heard Hjadvaar shout from the courtyard, and looked back to see something that almost pushed her over the edge into hysterics. Coming out of a ring of purple flame in front of Hjadvaar was a massive thing with grey-green scales, a thick tail, and huge, tattered wings.

"Serana, what is that?" Elsa asked, a note of panic in her voice, and noted that Hjadvaar almost looked like he was _talking_ to the thing.

"That's Durnehviir. He's a dragon who lives in the Soul Cairn. He taught Hjadvaar how to summon him after he was killed."

"What killed it?"

"Hjadvaar killed him when we were in the Soul Cairn." Elsa didn't really have anything to say about that, so she just watched the dragon bow it's neck and then fly off with Hjadvaar mounted just behind the spines on it's head.

"Is he trying to use a dragon to save Anna and Kristoff?" Elsa asked.

"No, he's just trying to figure out where they are. Tonight is when he and I are going to rescue them. You might as well sit down, Your Majesty. He'll probably be a little while." Elsa decided that was probably a good idea, and sank into the first chair she could reach.

"I, uh, I wanted to thank you, Your Majesty." Serana said after a few moments of silence.

"Thank me?" Elsa asked. "Why do you want to thank me?"

"You saved Hjadvaar, Your Majesty. I think that merits a 'thanks'."

"I didn't save him." Elsa objected. "He saved himself. All I did was put some ice on his head."

"Your Majesty, if that ice hadn't been cold enough to fully wake him up, he wouldn't have been able to save himself. He's the only real friend I ever had, and I don't know what I'd do without him, so you have my thanks for however long I live."

"Thank you for telling me that." Elsa said, shocked that anyone would be that open with her. They both fell into silence for about half an hour, until they heard a rhythmic thrumming flap to announce Hjadvaar's return. Elsa looked outside the window to see the dragon slam into the courtyard, and then disappear in a ring of purple flame almost the second Hjadvaar was out of range. After just a few moments, he walked into the study carrying a rolled piece of paper.

"We found them." he said, setting the paper on a frozen table and unrolling it to reveal a map of the area around Arendelle. "They're being held in a clearing right about here." He emphasised 'here' by driving a dagger through the map at a spot about five miles north of the town.

"Were they okay?" Elsa asked worriedly.

"I couldn't see them very well myself, Your Majesty, but Durnehviir said that the only injury he could see was a bruise on Kristoff's face. Now, the plan is that once the sun sets, Serana and I will go to the clearing where Anna and Kristoff are being held, kill all of their captors, then bring them back here."

"I'm coming, too." Elsa said. "Anna is my sister, and I'm going to help get her back." Hjadvaar opened his mouth as if he was going to object, but was cut off by Serana saying something in that language Elsa didn't understand. Hjadvaar also said something, and it almost sounded like they were arguing. Finally, Hjadvaar threw up his hands.

"Fine, I suppose she'll tell you about it when we get back anyway, and it would be best if you saw it for yourself. Serana will stay here and make sure nothing flies to pieces. We'll bring one horse and that reindeer for mounts. On the return trip, you and Anna will share the horse and I'll ride my own mount." He then went out the door and assumed his 'on guard' pose, making it clear that he was turning the recruits over early.

**~`~ ~'~**

Hjadvaar was already waiting in the courtyard when Elsa walked out of the castle, and noted with approval that the Snow Queen had changed into clothes more suited to travel than her usual attire. He himself wore a belted tunic and hose rather than his armor, and only carried a single sword hanging from his waist.

"Ready, Your Majesty?" he asked when she joined him not far from the stables.

"I'm ready." Elsa said as she created a stool made of ice to help her mount her horse.

"Then I'd like you to meet Arvak." He suddenly raised his hand, and a swirling ball of purple flame appeared cupped in his palm, which he threw at the ground by his feet. The ball expanded for a moment, then retracted, revealing a skeletal horse with purple flame for it's eyes, mane, and tail which had appeared within the vortex.

"Hjadvaar," Elsa said, sounding like she was struggling not to panic while she thawed her reins and saddle. "Would you please tell me next time you do something like that?"

"My apologies, Your Majesty." Hjadvaar mounted his skeletal steed and looked back towards Elsa. "Let's go. We're burning moonlight." He then touched his heels to Arvak's exposed ribs and set off towards the city at a trot with Elsa and Sven close behind. As they crossed the causeway, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, letting the cool night air wash over his face.

"What are you doing?" Elsa asked curiously.

"I like travelling at night." he replied, opening his eyes and trying to correct his posting rhythm, then looked up. "I'll admit that's a little disconcerting, though." He pointed to the moon in the sky. "I'm used to seeing two moons in the sky."

"Is it even possible for there to be two moons in Tamriel and only one everywhere else?"

"I gave up trying to find the difference between possible and impossible years ago."

They travelled in silence for about 45 minutes before Hjadvaar stopped and checked landmarks he had noted earlier while riding Durnehviir. _There's the North Mountain,_ he thought to himself _...The Eastern Foothills… Castle Arendelle… that funky-looking tree… seems like the right spot._ He dismounted, and Arvak returned to the Soul Cairn.

"Alright," he said as Elsa dismounted. "Here's the plan. Anna and Kristoff are being held about a mile in that direction." He pointed to one side of the road. "What we'll do is sneak up on the clearing, then I'll go out and give them a chance to surrender. When they don't, I'll kill everyone except Anna and Kristoff. What I want you to do is call down a blizzard if I look like I'm in trouble."

"How do you know they won't surrender?"

"I'll be one man against probably a few dozen. They won't be able to resist." Seeing that Elsa didn't seem to have anymore relevant questions, he turned and led the way into the woods.

It took them about fifteen minutes to reach the clearing, where they stopped to see about how many bandits Hjadvaar would be facing, and counted a total of about 3 dozen.

"You know how you asked me to tell you when I was about to do something like Arvak again?" Hjadvaar breathed. "Well, I'm about to do something like Arvak again." He then stood up and walked into the clearing.

"I give you one chance to drop your weapons and surrender!" he bellowed at the ruffians in the clearing. They responded exactly how he expected to - they jumped to their feet and brandished their weapons. Hjadvaar grinned broadly. "I was hoping you'd say that." he said as a black mist condensed around him and his flesh turned crimson. Quite suddenly, instead of being a six-foot-tall Nord standing at the edge of a forest clearing, he was eight feet tall with blue-grey skin and four-inch talons decorating his hands. He stretched a pair of nearly skeletal wings, and began floating three inches above the ground, at which point a light snow began to fall, and about half of the bandits turned and ran into the woods.

Hjadvaar raised his right hand, and a crimson orb formed in his palm, which he threw with deadly accuracy at a cluster of bandits, and drained the blood of everyone caught in it's blast. He then raised his left hand, and one unfortunate bandit who had fallen in the first attack rode back to his feet to attack his companions, who jointly decided their best option was to charge the abomination floating in front of them. Hjadvaar then settled to earth, and quickly demonstrated that his cruelly curved talons weren't for decoration by ripping one bandit to ribbons with one hand while he sliced the neck of another open. After just a few moments, only one bandit was left alive.

"Stay back, or I'll kill her!" he said, holding a knife to Anna's throat as the Princess of Arendelle looked straight ahead in terror and Kristoff shouted at him. Instead of attempting to reason with the man, Hjadvaar suddenly disappeared in a cloud of bats, and reformed an inch away from the man. He immediately sank his claws into the man's belly and raised him off the ground, then sank his fangs into the screaming man's neck and began to feed as Elsa ran from the forest to embrace her sister and Kristoff looked on in horror. When he had finished his grisly feast, he easily sliced through Anna and Kristoff's bindings with his talons, then returned to his more familiar form.

**Author's Note: I believe this is the last chapter I'm going to write for a little while, because I'm starting to get burned out on this story. I doubt this break will last more than two weeks, though, so I'll be back reasonably soon, and it might turn out that I'm lying and there'll be another chapter in just a few days. I honestly have no idea. Also, any advice on the story would be greatly appreciated, because I'm running out of ideas for things to happen within the next few in-universe months. I know what to do around Arendelle's Christmas time, but not too much before that, and after I'm done with all the sub-plots from Chapter Eleven, I'll be out. I might come up with more before then, but I also might not. Also, I have decided that when I'm done with the story itself, I'll go back and write a few chapters between four and five, just to flesh out that week a bit more. On another note, over two thousand words, so yay!**


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